by Anna Lowe
“Audrey,” Ty growled.
At least that worked, because Audrey leaned away. Slowly. Reluctantly.
“Come on, Beth, let’s read our story.” Tana started towing her toward the library door. Away from Axel.
Beth closed her eyes to hide the tears as she stumbled along. What had she been thinking with all those fantasies about a mate? She’d never win that kind of prize. She’d never be more than the forgettable librarian. Destiny had a way of playing tricks, anyway, bringing soul mates together only to sneer and rip them apart. The mind had a way of playing tricks, too, convincing the body and soul that a crush was something more. Half the women on the ranch were enamored with Axel. Why would she be the lucky one?
Behind her, Audrey heaved a tragic sigh. “Be good, Axel,” she said, no doubt adding a naughty wink. “I’ll see you around.”
Yeah, Audrey would see Axel around, all right. And sooner or later, he’d fall for her charms. Beth and The Kiss would be forgotten.
Beth crossed the threshold on leaden legs and entered the library. She took two steps and ground to a halt as the heavy oak door swung shut with a heavy thump. The End, it seemed to groan. The End.
Chapter Eight
Bang! Bang! Ding.
Axel squinted through his own sweat and aimed his next blow.
Bang! Bang! Ding. Two strokes of the hammer on metal, then a touch on the anvil, just to keep up the rhythm.
Noise and heat and sweat. Maybe that would cure him of his curse. The curse of wanting a forbidden angel. A woman not of his own kind.
Bang! Bang! Ding.
He couldn’t get the previous day’s scene outside the library out of his mind. For a while there, he’d soared to heaven with his angel, then crashed down to earth the moment Audrey showed up and ruined everything. He’d come that close to pushing Audrey away. To doing something far, far more drastic than just pushing her away, actually. Like roaring until the prying she-wolf fled for fear of her life while he bared his tusks and warned her never to come that close to him, not ever to insult his angel again.
But he didn’t roar. Couldn’t roar. Not at a woman, and not on another pack’s turf.
Christ. What right did Audrey have to yank him out of heaven?
Bang! Bang!
He left out the ding and ground his teeth for a while. The truth was, he didn’t have any right to anything. He was a guest here.
A guest soon to be tossed back into the wild, because Audrey had been so close to him when Ty showed up, the pack alpha must have thought Axel had been the one coming on to Audrey and not the other way around.
“Audrey!” He remembered the sharp edge in Ty’s firm bark. Yeah, Ty wanted Axel away from the she-wolf, pronto.
The fact that Axel wasn’t remotely interested in Audrey didn’t matter, because wanting Beth was just as bad. Worse, even. God, if Ty found out he’d kissed Beth—twice!—he was a goner. It was only logical. If Audrey caused that much of a fuss, the pack would flip if they found out he’d kissed their angel. The keeper of their books, the teacher of their children. Beth had to be one of the most valued members of the pack.
Yes, the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch had been awfully good to him, but they wouldn’t look kindly upon a boar making moves on one of their women. Especially a classy one like Beth.
An ugly future played out in his mind: Ty, accompanying him to the ranch border, then watching a long time to make sure Axel left. Thanks for the heroics, now scram.
Audrey would be there, batting those scary eyelashes at him. “See you later, Axel. Be good,” she’d say with another one of those hungry looks. “Maybe we’ll see you around.”
Sure. All anyone would see of him was his backside as he trotted dejectedly across the desert.
Bang! Bang! Ding.
He’d be back in the desert, back to his old life. Running from one end of the West to the other on one of his father’s quixotic quests. Dreaming of a classy she-wolf he could never, ever have.
Bang! Bang! Di—
“Axel?”
He barely held back a growl and looked up reluctantly. His time on the ranch was limited, and he had a present to make. A goodbye present that might just give him some closure when the day came to tear himself away from Twin Moon Ranch. Away from Beth.
“What?” he rumbled.
Cody stuck his hands up from where he stood in the doorway. “Hey, man, sorry to disturb you at work.”
Axel ducked his head. Oops. Not cool, snarling at the pack’s co-alpha.
“Sorry,” Axel mumbled.
Cody dismissed his concern with a breezy wave. Was the man ever anything but easygoing and relaxed? He was the polar opposite of his brooding brother, Ty.
Behind Cody, the sky was alive with color. Sunset already? Axel wiped the back of his hand across his brow.
“Ty wants to talk to you,” Cody said. “We both do.”
Axel froze, looking at Cody. He glanced back down at his project. A single drop of sweat fell on the shape he’d been teasing out of the bronze.
He glanced back at Cody. Crap, this was it. He was out of time. Ty and Cody were going to send him packing. They’d heard or scented or seen the kiss to end all kisses, and they weren’t amused.
The fact that Cody actually looked amused was inconsequential, because Cody always looked cheery and upbeat.
“Sure,” Axel murmured, trying to keep the shake out of his voice. God, pissing off the pack could even mean he’d put the fragile wolf-javelina alliance at risk. His father would kill him.
“Five minutes from now in the council house, all right?” Cody said.
“Sure,” he whispered, studying the unfinished sections of his project. His heart ached already. He wouldn’t be able to finish Beth’s gift. He wouldn’t be able to—
“See you soon,” Cody smiled and left.
Axel stared into the embers of the furnace for three of his five minutes. Then he slowly, carefully, wiped each hammer and put it in its place, lingering over each parting touch. The leather apron was last. He hung it on its hook, then spent another minute arranging it just so. He was going to be late, but hell, what was the rush? He’d prolong his stay in paradise as long as he could.
Every step to the council house was a step through molten lead. He moved slowly, with hunched shoulders and an aching heart.
“Hi, Mister Axel.” Little Timmy waved.
He summoned a feeble wave and trudged on. Climbed the three stairs to the council house the way a doomed man might climb to the gallows and slowly stepped in.
Ty nodded in greeting. Cody smiled.
Axel looked at the floor.
“So, Axel,” Ty started.
He drilled the toe of his boot into the wooden floorboards, wanting so badly to tune out the words. Because Ty and Cody were about to say thanks and sayonara and so long.
“Your arm seems to be coming along,” Ty continued.
He winced, not because it hurt but because it didn’t hurt. No more excuses to stay, even if he could somehow plead for mercy.
Cody nodded cheerily. Maybe he enjoyed throwing outsiders off the ranch. Maybe he was looking forward to seeing Axel’s sorry ass trudge off into the hills.
“You’ve been working long hours, too, from what George says.”
He wondered what else George might have reported. Maybe the scent of a certain she-wolf on his clothes?
“Good to see you on your feet again,” Ty continued. So you can hightail it out of here. Axel could read the rest in Ty’s stiff shoulders, his dark looks.
“Get to the point, already,” Cody told his brother.
Get to the part when we finally rid ourselves of this boar, he might as well have said.
Ty glared at his brother, then cleared his throat. Maybe the alpha was making a show of being polite to ensure that the alliance between Twin Moon pack and the Waldermann javelinas didn’t suffer. Maybe they’d make kicking him out sound polite.
“We know you’re probably itching to get goi
ng,” Ty finally said.
Right. The only ones itching for that were these wolves.
“…but we sure would like it if you could stay for Christmas,” Ty finished.
Axel blinked. Shook his head a little, trying to clear his ears. Maybe he’d damaged his hearing with all that banging in the confines of the smithy.
“Christmas is only a week away…” Cody added.
A week? Christmas? He looked from one brother to the other, not quite believing his ears.
“Everyone would be really happy to see you at Christmas dinner.”
He could stay? His heart pounded. Christmas was a whole week away.
“You’ll let me stay that long?” Axel blurted.
Cody laughed. “Man, of course you can stay!”
“You’re more than welcome to stay,” Ty said. “As long as you want.”
Axel tilted his head. What would they say if he asked to stay forever?
“You mean…” he stammered. “You mean, you’re not mad?”
The brothers looked at each other before Cody spoke. “You saved our sister. You saved her mate. You fought off the hellhound that threatened our pack. What’s there to be mad about?”
“I thought…I thought…”
Ty stirred the air with one hand. “What did you think?”
“I thought when you told Audrey to stay away from me…” Axel trailed off. Because they had meant for him to stay clear of their women, right?
Cody laughed out loud.
Ty grimaced. “That was for your protection, not hers.”
“Audrey has a way of chewing guys up and spitting them out.” Cody nodded. “We’d hate for you to get hurt.”
They’d hate for him to get hurt?
“You mean…”
Ty tilted his head, studying him. Realization flashed in the wolf’s eyes. “You’re interested in one of our women?”
Axel waited for Ty to blow up. Boom! The top of the volcano would go flying and all the lava bottled up inside would come rushing his way.
Ty scratched his cheek for a minute and finally shrugged.
Axel waited a second longer, just in case. Still no explosion, no protest.
“You are interested in one of the women,” Cody chuckled. “And you’ve been worried about that?”
He said it like Axel was crazy, and maybe he was.
“Well…”
“Listen,” Cody said. “As long as she’s okay with whatever it is you’re thinking about doing—” he flashed a naughty smile “—you go for it, man.”
Go for it? “You don’t mind?”
The brothers blinked at each other, then at him. “Why would we mind?”
Because he was an outsider? Because he was a boar?
They stared at him like they were waiting for a punch line, but there didn’t seem to be one.
“As long as you treat her right and she’s of the same mind,” Ty said, “we’ve got no problem with that.”
Cody nodded. “Sure. And if—”
The lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then they cut out entirely, throwing the room into darkness deeper than that outside. Other than the hoot of an owl, the whole ranch seemed to stand still.
The hair on the nape of his neck rose as the two wolves coiled for action.
“Power outage?” Cody murmured in a tight voice so unlike a moment before.
A prickly feeling worked its way down Axel’s spine.
“Let’s hope,” Ty growled. “But let’s find out. Now.”
The alarm in the big alpha’s voice made Axel tense, too. “Problem?” he asked as they stalked toward the door.
Cody paused just long enough to square his jaw. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it’s just a squirrel chewing through the power lines. But just in case…”
Axel could fill in the blanks. Cut power could also mean the prelude to an ambush. But what intruders would take on a force as formidable as Twin Moon pack?
The brothers raced off into the night, leaving Axel to sniff the air uncertainly.
Hushed, worried voices filled the night as pack members quickly moved to what appeared to be assigned positions. Some shifted to wolf shape and took off into the desert to stand guard, while others hurried the children to the stone-walled dining hall at the heart of the ranch. The tower within the keep, so to speak—their stronghold.
Within two minutes, the entire ranch was ready. Waiting. Hushed.
Axel swung his head left, toward the west. He closed his eyes and sniffed the breeze coming from the north. Nothing there. His right foot rubbed a hard line through the dirt.
Protect, the beast grunted inside. His heart pounded, ready for a fight.
Axel squared his shoulders. Imagined ducking his head, dropping to all fours, and shifting. Charging into the night and taking out whatever enemy there might be threatening this perfect place. His skin bristled with the sensation of boar hide, screaming to come out. He dragged another foot through the dirt as the beast prepared to attack.
But where to charge? There was no target, no tangible threat. And if he let the beast out now, would he ever win control back?
A cry pierced the night, and he whipped around.
Sniffed. Blinked. Waited. Why wasn’t anyone reacting? Running toward that voice?
Again—another cry. His heart rate spiked.
Except…wait, it wasn’t a voice. It was in his mind. An echo, just like the first.
And just like that, he wasn’t looking at the ranch anymore, but into his memories. Six weeks ago, he’d been running along behind his father in the open desert when a scream exploded into his mind. A scream exactly like the one he heard now.
He stood stock-still and replayed the memory.
Somewhere up north, that’s where it had been. He’d screeched to a halt in a dust cloud, forcing all four hooves to hold perfectly still so he could hear.
“What the…?” his father had muttered once he’d turned back.
“Shh!” He’d quieted his father so forcefully, the big boar jolted in surprise. “Shh,” Axel added, tilting his head to listen. Where was that voice coming from?
He’d winced as another scream ripped through the night. Clear as a bell, even if it was only in his mind. A woman, terrified. A woman he had to protect at all costs. Why, he had no idea. Just that every bone in his body was behind the massive bellow he released into the night. A warning to whatever evil dared threaten her.
One second, he’d been stiff as a statue, straining to hear, and the next, he’d thundered off on a new course, running toward the voice. Telling her, I’m coming! Hang on!
He’d run sixteen hours straight, following an inner compass. By the time he’d approached Twin Moon Ranch, the woman’s voice was gone, but the rotting smell of demon was in the air. It led him to a bluff, where he’d raced straight into the fight of his life.
Tina had been there, though he didn’t know her at the time, and he’d always figured she was the one who had called for help. Except it wasn’t Tina he’d responded to, because the cry he’d heard had come hours earlier, and it came from a different voice.
The cry that sounded an awful lot like the one he heard now.
Beth. Beth’s voice!
It had been Beth screaming the night before the hellhound attack.
It was Beth, screaming right now, at least in his mind. Not quite as terrified as before, but still afraid.
He sniffed the air, one breath away from shifting. The dry night air carried scents from near and far. The musk of the stables, up on the hill. The tinge of pine from far, far afield. The balmy scent of yucca. The sweet, fragile fragrance of desert rose.
Desert rose. His heart thumped harder. Where was she? Was she all right?
He growled into the night. Without a clear enemy, there was nothing to attack. But he sure as hell could defend.
Where was she? He turned toward the library, but every nerve in his body did an about-face. Not the library. Over there.
He took off,
sprinting into the night.
Chapter Nine
Beth peered out the window at the darkness beyond. Was it just another power outage, or a real emergency? Her hand trembled on the curtain, then let it drop.
No need to be jumpy. No need at all. And certainly no need to scream. Thank goodness she’d swallowed the sound back before it brought half her packmates running. The alarm was probably about nothing, right?
She paced three steps across the tiny living room of her bungalow, then back. A dozen candles flickered uncertainly from all around the room, casting dancing shadows over the books lining floor-to-ceiling shelves.
She really ought to hustle over and join her packmates in one of the designated safe houses, but moonlight had a way of making demons lurk in every shadow. Which was crazy, because wolves weren’t afraid of the dark. She used to take long, nighttime walks alone, but ever since the hellhound attack…
No need to think about that now. Not now, not ever again.
She tried pushing the terrifying memories away, but her mind kept lobbing them right back. The unearthly howl of the hellhound kept echoing through her mind, and she couldn’t forget the glowing red eyes that had sprung out of nowhere that terrifying night, weeks ago. She’d just about given herself whiplash, snapping around to face them. The ghostly howl had risen from a gully not a hundred feet away from her, and she’d gone stiff all over when she spotted the burning red eyes. Hungry, evil eyes, fixed right on her.
She was a goner. She’d known it the second the hellhound snarled and took a step down the hill, then another, nodding at her. You die.
She hadn’t been able to move, and the only cry for help she managed was a terrified mental yelp that elicited no response.
The hellhound’s jaws split open in an evil grin. Mine. Mine to kill. It stepped forward slowly, taunting her. You die.
She stood helpless as the horrible creature approached, her feet rooted to the ground.
You die, little she-wolf. You d—
There was no sound, no sign of help, but the hellhound abruptly whipped around to face north, sniffing the air. It lowered its head and growled while Beth’s heart hammered in her chest. Maybe the pack had heard her cry after all. Maybe they were coming to help.